Amnesia
by Starwarrior3710
Summary: It was raining on the day I appeared before Grey manor. The sky was black and it seemed to mourn just as I mourned for the memories that had been lost. This was the beginning of my decent into a world that should not exist, but as it turns out neither should I.
1. chapter 1

It was raining on the day I appeared before the Grey manor. The sky was black and it seemed to mourn just as I mourned for the memories that had been lost. My clothes were tattered and wet, I was chilled to the bone. I stood before the dark palace; its gothic architecture casted a shadow over the surrounding forest. A forest so dark and thick if one entered they may never their way out. As I stood there staring at the stone gargoyles guarding the entrance I could not recall how I came to be here. Lightning cracked and instigated a loud crash just as I reached up to knock on the mahogany door.

It swung open. Revealing a older gentleman in a tailcoat. He looked very old and his eyes looked empty and black.

"Welcome Miss, the Masters are eagerly awaiting your audience." His voice was as empty as his eyes and gave away no emotion "Please right this way." He continued as I cautiously stepped over the threshold. He gestured for me to follow him.

The inside of the manor was just as magnificent as the out. It looked like museum, everything pristine and archaic. The entryway was lit by candlelight stemming from a large chandelier that hung in the middle of the room. A large staircase that lead upstairs was directly underneath , and as my eyes skimmed across the top my heart skipped a beat as I noticed a pair of red gleaming eyes staring at me. I couldn't stop looking into them, they had me in a sort of trance. A sense of peace washed over me, my knees felt weak and I started to feel faint, the world around me started to go black and I felt myself moving slowly toward those eyes.

A gust of wind blew as the man shut the door behind me and the candles flickered, and those beautiful eyes were gone. My eyes lingered on the spot a moment longer before the man spoke again. Somehow I could sense his voice was a little more urgent this time, but still gave way to no emotion.

"Miss, this way please" as he gestured for me to follow him.

As we walked my hands were clenched together on my chest as I tried to make myself as small as possible so as not to accidently touch anything. I followed closely behind the man, as we walked through several rooms all lit by candles and all adorned with impressive portraits of people from long ago. Every one of them looked so regal, and elegant. I felt as though they were all looking down on me as I walked through the rooms, their golden eyes bore into my soul reading everything about me. Things that I no longer knew about myself.

The doorman walked with a slight limp. He seemed to favor his right side, his right arm gripped his thigh as he walked. I could not see his face but from his groans every few steps I could only assume he was in some sort of pain.

We stopped at a pair of double doors. "The Masters are waiting beyond these doors Miss. I will leave you here." I nodded as the man turned and began walking back the way we came.

I quickly turned around "Excuse me sir but…" but before I could finish my sentence the man had already disappeared.

I stared at the door, aside from the handles which appeared to be golden horses reared on their hind legs the door was very plain. I wondered who these so called Masters were, what they were like. But most of all, why were they waiting for me?

I closed my eyes, inhaled deeply and opened the door.

I opened my eyes to an impressive dining hall. A long table that would have sat ten stretched down the middle. The room was brightly lit by yet another chandelier and the walls adorned with portraits of people who had no rivals in the ways of beauty. Tapestries hung in the empty spaces between portraits all embroidered with different crests which were foreign to me.

"Please, take a seat." A voice said from out of nowhere. The voice that spoke was a woman's, it sounded quite seductive. But it had an icy undertone that gave way to an ulterior motive attached to it.

I had been too busy gawking at everything to notice that there were several people already seated at the table.

At the head of the table sat a woman. Aside from myself she was the only female. Her hair was long and draped down over her breasts. It was a dark red, more like a crimson and her eyes were gold just like the ones from the portraits. She had a powerful aura about her, she stood up to reveal a long silver gown and she gestured to an empty seat opposite her and the other end of the table.

Slowly I made my way over to the table all the while still trying to make myself as small as possible. I pulled the chair out and sat.

The room was eerily silent I would have sworn I was the only who was breathing, I could hear my heartbeat in my head and without saying anything I knew they could hear it too.

The woman sat back down and began to speak.

"Good evening, most of you already know me. However, for those of you who don't I am Annabelle Grey, former ruler of the Forsaken. You have all been gathered here because my time as ruler is up. Each one of you a prince sent to represent one of our race's five clans. But only one of you will be crowned ruler of all Forsaken."

As she said these last words she stood up and slowly strode over to where I was seated. All eyes were on her as she rounded the back of my chair, her hands reached down securing my wrists to the arms. Her hands were icy and her grip only tightened as I attempted to struggle against her.

"The rules are simple, you have one year to bind the Amplifier to you. During this time if you attempt to leave the grounds for any reason you will be disqualified, If you attempt to kill a competitor you will suffer punishment far greater then disqualification. At the end of the year whomever the Amplifier has chosen will be the new ruler of the Forsaken."

She leaned down close to my ear. My heart was pounding so loud I almost didn't hear what she said next.

"Choose well lady Amplifier" I could hear the grin on her lips as she said it.

Just then everything went black.


	2. Chapter 2

I can't breathe. It's dark and I can't breathe. I feel like I'm falling, sinking into the void. I try again and again to scream but my throat is too dry and I just make barely audibe cracking noises instead. I can't move and the more I try to struggle against it the harder it gets.

"You can't give up." a man's voice rings like a bell through my body. I can feel it radiating through every nook and cranny, illuminating every dark space in my mind filling it with an overwhelmingly bright light, eradicating the darkness and filling me with peace.

I woke up in a haze, my head throbbing. Everything foggy from the night before. As I sat up I realized my clothes had been changed from tattered soaking wet rags to a silk nightgown. The air in the room was cold and heavy with a sense of confusion. Where am I?

Of course I had no better idea of where I was than I did of who I am.

I have no memories before coming here.

Everything from yesterday started coming back to me. The forsaken, the clans, an Amplifier? why did that woman call me the Amplifier?

Just then the door to the room opened, a small woman walked in carrying a stack of towels. She was young probably around 25, her hair chestnut brown and bouncy with curls. Her face held a bright smile that seemed like it could light up any room.

"Good morning Miss, I've brought you some towels and drawn you a bath. There are some new clothes for you in the closet there and when you're all cleaned up Her Greatness requests an audence with you in her chambers." her voice was as cheerful as her smile. She was the most refreshing thing I'd come in contact with since I arrived here yesterday.

She layed the towels at the foot of the bed and strode over to the window, she pulled back the drapes revealing a beautiful sunrise. The light filled the room, I held my arm up in front of my eyes until they could adjust to it's brightness, I could feel the warm rays hitting my face, and I remembered Annabella's hands around my wrists. Their icy grip constricting my every movement, my every thought. I shuddered. How can something so cold exsist in this world?

With this much light I could really get a good look at the room. The bed was large and had a canopy over it. The bedset was a brilliant red and white, at the foot of the bed was a large chest adorned with intricate carvings of roses. The work that went into it was very impressive, no two roses were alike, a matching dresser sat across from the chest. The dresser spanned the length of the wall and had a large mirror on the top. There were two doors on either side of the dresser one the closet and one the washroom. A small bedside table sat beside me, on top of it a intricately hand painted vase depicting dancing elephants held a bouquet of sunflowers. The vase looked old like everything else in the house and the sunflowers still had a fresh smell to them, you could tell they had been picked that morning.

The woman started for the door.

"Um excuse me miss...?" my voice came out shakier then I had intended it to. "But, where exactly are we?"

"Why you're at Grey Manor dear. In the middle of the Red Valley, you came wandering in yesterday soaking wet poor thing. Amazing that you even found this place considering how far it is from any town and how dangerous the wood is. Now hurry along best not to keep Her Greatness waiting." and with that she left shutting the door behind her.

After my bath I went to the closet to find a pale blue dress. It fit my slender figure quite well and was very modest. It had long sleeves and came down to my knees. It had white lace around the bottom and on the cuffs. It was quite pretty and I was quite pleased.

Glancing at myself in the mirror I could see that the dark circles under my eyes made it look like I hadn't slept in a year, and with nightmares like the one I had last night I can't say I'm surprised. My black hair draped down to my shoulders and it framed my face, my emrald eyes stood out against my pale skin.

I don't recognize the person staring back at me in the mirror. I wonder who she is, who I am? Do I look more like my mother, or father? What were they like? Do they miss me?

Pushing these thought from my mind I notice something shiny around my neck. A necklace with some sort of symbol on it, like three circles intertwined in an endless loop. Where did this come from? Have I always had it?

I wasn't sure where Annabella's chambers were, and after wandering around aimlessly for a brief period of time I managed to find my way into to the courtyard. It was overgrown with weeds and ivy climbed it's walls carelessly, it clearly hadn't been tended to in quite some time. A large oak tree stood in the middle of the courtyard it cast a large shadow easily hiding the figure who had also found this forgotten Eden.

"Did you like the flowers?" a man's voice echoed from the other side of the courtyard against the stone walls. The voice was calm and seductive, it was somehow strangely familiar.

"Who are you? Show yourself!" I said with a fake confidence.

A figure emerged from behind the tree. I recognized him from the table last night, he sat to the right of Annabella. He was tall and had long blonde hair, his eyes were crystal blue and shone so brightly they could have easily been mistaken for diamonds. He wore brown suit pants and a white button up shirt that seemed to cling to his muscular figure like it was holding on for life.

"Who are you?" I asked taking a step backwards.

"My name is Holden Parker, prince of the Grandior clan." he said with an egotistical smile crossing his lips. Within a second he had me pinned against the wall. Inches from my face I could breathe in his scent, it was intoxicating and made me feel weak. His hands grabbed my wrists and pinned them above my head. "Did you like the flowers?" he said again somehow just as charming as the first time. I closed my eyes tightly hoping for it to be over, for him to do whatever he was going to with me and leave me be.

Before I could open my mouth a booming voice came from every direction. "ENOUGH!" it ordered.

Our heads turned only to be met with Annabella's disapproving gaze. He let go of my wrists and I was free.

"I know of your impure thoughts creaton." she spat. "Come girl" she said looking at me.

I hurried along behind her, until we came to a door she pulled a key from her long black gown and unlocked it.

"Sit" she said gesturing to a chair in the corner. "We have much to discuss." The room was more like a library with several large cases of books reaching the ceiling filled. The room smelled old, and like paper.

Annabella sat across from me. "I'm sure you have many questions." she said. "I will explain everything to you now." Her tone so serious I thought it best not to interrupt so I simply nodded in agreement.

"We are the Forsaken, an ancient race that has walked this Earth since the beginning of time. We feed off the blood of the living and we do not age. We are immortal, we are stronger, and faster than mere humans. The Forsaken are broken up into five clans, the Grandior, the Kalrav, the Rheys, the Sylvons, and the Hawns. Each clan has it's own hirearchy but there is only one true law among Forsaken and it is the word of the ruler. The ruler is made the most powerful Forsaken by way of feeding on the Amplifier's blood. The Amplifier amplifies a Forsakens power by ten fold making them the most powerful in the world. Each of the clans have specific powers that can be amplified. The Amplifier is reincarnated once every hundred years. By this time line we choose a new ruler, we choose a representative from each of the five clans to compete for the Amplifier. The Amplifier must choose the new ruler of the Forsaken by binding with the chosen one. "

I stared at her blankly taking in all of the information I had just heard.

"So I am this Amplifier?" I said calmly trying to accept what was happening.

"Yes, it has been your fate since birth."

"How does the binding work?"

"Once you have chosen the ruler, you will lay with them to bind yourself to them for all eternety, or in your case a hundred years. For the binding to work you must remain chaste."

"So that guy in the courtyard, he's one of the Forsaken I have to choose from?"

"Yes, do not worry you have a year to get to know all of your suitors. If you do not decide within that time the governing voice of our race will cease to exist. It will be complete anarchy through the Forsaken and the whole world will be at stake. Wars will break out and many will die. It is imperative that you choose before the year is up"

She said this so nonchalantly as she sipped her tea, as I was sitting there trying to wrap my head around everything I had just heard.

"I think I need to lay down" I said and without another word stood up and walked back to my room for the night.


	3. Chapter 3

I refused to leave my room for several days, I simply lay in bed trying to force myself to either accept my fate or find a way to get out of it. The room was always dark and I refused any visitors aside from the maid Alice. Everyday she brought me food and urged me to eat, however I had lost all my appetite and the food lay to rot. I'm sure the smell would have made anyone who had not grown accoustomed to it ill.

I had lost track of time, I no longer knew if it was day or night. I just layed and wept. How could my entire life be decided for me? How could I have no say in anything that happened to me? Why can't I remember anything from before?

If I fight this, the whole world would be at stake. Did that even matter to me?

I got up from my bed for the first time in days and pulled back the drapes to reveal the full moon. The moon's rays seemed to touch every inch of the grounds and somehow made it seem almost peaceful. The leaves of the trees dances in the moonlight and the rustling sounded like the singing of faries. Something caught my eye as I glanced across the edge of the forest. Something red, and glowing.

A familiar voice entered my head, at first it whispered something barely audible, a soft murmur.

"Run..." it said. The voice grew loader the more I delayed my reaction to it, until it bacame a scream in my head "RUN!" it rang through my body causing my hands to fly to my ears and my body to double over in pain.

I summoned all my strength and without anymore hesitation I dashed through the doorway and ran through the hall toppling over a servant boy, out the front door and started toward the unforgiving wood on the outskirts of the property.

It was dark but I could see clearly in the moon light. Upon reaching the edge of the wood I stopped. I stood there staring into it's blackness, it had a foreboding smell to it that made me want to vomit. Like a sea of rotting carcasses.

But there, the eyes further back now.

"Follow me..." the voice rang again.

Hesitantly I stepped into the wood, it was silent. There was no rustling of leaves, no crickets or animal noises. Just dead silence. I began following the eyes, deeper and deeper into the wood. Eventually I had gone so far I was not sure of which way I actually came from.

I was scared, even though I could see these eyes I felt so alone. I felt lost, like I would never find my way out of this mess. I only hoped that the eyes would lead me to the other side.

Instead; they lead me to a clearing before they disappeared.

"Hello?" I asked "Where did you go? I followed you here, now what?" after a few minutes of waiting in silence I realized there would be no answer. My guardian had abondeoned me.

For what seemed like forever I sat on a log off to the side staring up at the moon. I wasn't sure how to get back, or even if I wanted to go back. I wonder if I had just kept going where I would be by now? If I could even escape this.

"Beautiful isn't it?" a voice came from behind me. I spun around to see a figure emerged from the shadows. I stood up with my hands stretched in front of me defensively recalling the last time Id met a strange figure on these grounds.

"Sorry I didn't mean to startle you" he chuckled "I just..well no one has seen you in a few days, so when I saw you charge out of your room like that I needed to make sure everything was okay so I followed you here."

The raven haired young man was staring at me, smiling the most warm smile I had ever seen. He was probably around 19 or so, but his honey colored eyes told a story of a much older man. He had a strong jawline and his features told me he was of European descent. He was charming indeed, and I found myself lowering my arms.

"I was just-" before I could finish he cut me off.

"Just, sitting out here alone thinking about running?" it was like he read my mind.

"Yea, how did-"

"Did I know? Because I've been thinking about the same thing." he said sitting down on the log, he patted the area next to him offering me to join him. I shook my head, as charming as he was I was not about to walk into the lions den.

"Who are you?" I probed.

"I'm sorry how rude of me, I am Rowen Westgate of the Rheys Clan." he said confidently "I am one of your suitors."

I scoffed, another one of these? I don't know why I would expect different, but I had hoped.

"And you are the Amplifier" he said. "While it is your title, I'm sure it's not your name. What should I call you?"

"I-I'm not sure" I stammered, embarrassed that I had forgotten my own name. "I don't remember anything before I got here, and since no one has bothered to ask they just call me the Amplifier." It's true since I got here I had never even thought about what my name was, and neither had anyone else. Rowen was the first to ask me who I was.

"Well if you can't remember, we can just make one up. Come on itll be fun." he said with that warm smile crossing his lips again.

I nodded in agreement. "What do you think?" I questioned.

"Hmm" he said bringing his hand to his chin looking deep in thought. "Sarah? No...Julie? No that's not right either..."

"What about Emma?" I said. The name sounded like something I almost remember. "Emma Fog."

He grinned "Emma Fog it is, the pleasure is mine Miss Fog." as he said this he stood up and bowed.

My face started to get hot and I could tell I was blushing, my hand went to my mouth in attempt to hide my smile.

He looked up at me mid bow, his face adorned with a toothy grin before sitting back down. This time I joined him on the log, sitting this close in proximity to him I could breathe all of him in. His scent filled my nostrils, it was familiar like sunflowers maybe?

After sitting together in silence for several moments I began to speak.

"Earlier, you said you wanted to run away, why?"

I could feel him get serious next to me his jaw clenched and his fists tightened. "The same reason you do, I didn't choose this, it was chosen for me."

At that moment I realized, this didn't effect just me. These princes this was decided for all of them too.

"I-I'm sorry...This is all my fault, if I had never..." I stammered bursting into tears.

Rowen grabbed my shoulders and faced me towards him. "Dont talk like that!" I sniffed wiping my eyes so I could clearly see his face. "This is not your fault, you had nothing to do with this. You are not just the tool they tell you that you are. Do you understand?" looking into his eyes I could tell he was being sincere. Our eyes remained locked on one another for a moment. His eyes were old and full of pain, regret, sadness. What had happened to him?

Still gripping my shoulders his head jerked to the left as if he had heard some sort of noise. My eyes followed his gaze but saw nothing.

"Don't move..." he whispered, slowly getting to his feet and pushing me behind him.

Just then a crack came from the right side of the clearing, my head jerked around only to make eye contact with a large brown wolf. The wolf paced back and forth on all fours but was the size of a grown man. It's fur was matted in places with what looked like dried blood, it bared it sharp teeth at us and growled angrily in our direction.

Terrified I my hand flew to my mouth to keep my urge to scream at bay. Rowen's face had changed, his eyes were no longer the warm honey color they had been, they had changed to pitch black. His smile turned to a scowl and he bared his long fangs. His stance was defensive, he seemed to be sheilding me from this giant wolf.

Without opening it's mouth a loud voice boomed across the clearing at us"You dare trespass on our land?" the voice was gravely and loud, looking at the wolf it sounded exactly how I imagined it would.

"Our apologies, we were just leaving..." Rowen replied his once warm voice was replaced with something more sinister and sounded more like a hiss than his usual way of speaking.

"No. You will be made an example of." My hands flew to my ears as the wolf threw back it head to emit a horrific howl that echoed throughout the forest. The howl seemed to signal to other wolves, as they began emerging into the clearing one at a time.

Before we knew it we were completely surrounded. I gripped the back of Rowen's shirt tighter bracing myself for what was about to happen.


	4. Chapter 4

We were completely surrounded by the wolves. The large one directly across from us that first approached us let out one final howl before charging.

"Hold on tight" Rowen said as he spun around lifting me up as if I were nothing, the next thing I knew we had lept off the ground and landed in a tree. He set me down on a sturdy branch, and before I knew what had heppened he was gone.

I looked around frantically, gripping the tree trunk as hard as I could for stability. I moved the leaves that were blocking my veiw of the clearing. It was hard to make out what was happening, but i could hear an overabundance of growling and snarls echoing through the trees.

A bright flash of electrically charged purple light filled the air stemming from the ground. Once I pinpointed where it was coming from I could easily see what was causing it.

Rowen.

He was in the center of this burst of purple lightning, his arms stretched out in front of him targeting each wolf with his burst of electricity. Flash after flash the wolves numbers began to deminish, until there was only one left. The large one that had wanted to make an example out of us stood in the middle of the clearing opposite Rowen.

Rowen was breathing heavily, clearly running out of energy he struggled to stay upright. My heart skipped a beat once he had succumbed and collapsed to the ground.

Rowen was the first one I had met here who I could say felt like a friend, and he was going to die protecting me.

It was nearly dawn and as the wolf inched closer to Rowen a clawing feeling rose up in my chest, it felt like a monster who was trying to break free from a cage. It hungered for freedom and begged me to release it, and before I knew what had happened I found myself between Rowen and the wolf.

"Move, my quarrel is not with you" roared the gravely voice of the wolf.

"I can't let you hurt him!" I screamed, a power I didn't know existed within me filled my voice.

"Very well then, I will rip out your throat as well." his cry was the last thing I heard before I saw him charge.

Instictively I held my hands in front of me as if to somehow block the wolf. A white light began to stem from my palms surrounding Rowen and I in a large bubble.

The wolf stopped dead in his tracks before reaching us. He began to approach the bubble slowly, examining it carefully before coming face to face with me. His eyes were full of something as he looked at me, compassion? no not compassion, but pity.

"My time is up. Find me when the moon is yet again full, there is another way." the wolfs voice trailed off at the end as he disappeared in a cloud of smoke.

The bubble dissapated and I let out a sigh of relief. I turned over my hands to find black scortch marks covering my palms, they burned like they had been smashed between and iron and it's board.

I could hear Rowen stirring behind me, I spun and knelt down next to him placing his head in my lap.

"What did you..? How did you..?" I could tell so many questions were running through his mind that he didn't know which ones to ask first.

I shushed him "Let's not worry about any of that now okay?" I said in the most comforting voice I could summon "Let's just worry about getting you back to the house, I'm sure they will know how to fix you up. Can you stand?"

He nodded in response to my question as I helped him get to his feet.

It was easier to see the way back to the house in the daylight, it felt like it took half the time to get back as it did to get out there.

"You know something Em?" he said smiling on the way back "You were pretty amazing out there, and I think I've made a decision."

"A decision about what?"

He stopped walking and grabbed my wrist to pull me toward him. I suddenly found myself locked in his arms pressed against his chest. Dispute the abruptness I was completely at ease.

"My future" he said. I could feel the vibrations of his words as he spoke, his tone was serious and calm. "I've decided that I won't run, I will compete against the others. I can't let them have you Emma."


End file.
